Christopher Ratcliffe: Discipline is key to saving R.I. schools

Wednesday

Aug 21, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Much has been discussed concerning the common core state standards in our public schools. Little, however, has been addressed concerning the issue of common discipline standards.In the business world,...

By Christopher Ratcliffe

Much has been discussed concerning the common core state standards in our public schools. Little, however, has been addressed concerning the issue of common discipline standards.

In the business world, a cornerstone of management is this: In the absence of meaningful consequences for non-performance, there will be declining standards.

The same is true in our public education system. Declining standards of behavior in the classroom, and the lack of meaningful consequences, is a root cause of poor academic performance, especially in the urban core (Providence, Central Falls, West Warwick, Woonsocket, Pawtucket).

The incidents of bad behavior perpetrated by unruly students in the 2011-2012 school year are sobering. That year alone, there were 22,305 out-of-school suspensions and 13,960 in-school suspensions in Rhode Island, 50 percent of which occurred in the urban core.

That year, there were 237 assaults on teachers, 1,390 assaults on students, 6,713 incidents of disorderly conduct (any act that substantially disrupts the orderly learning environment or poses a threat to health, safety and/or wellness), 2,562 incidents of fighting, 6,553 incidents of insubordination/disrespect (refusing a directive of a teacher), 1,424 incidents of obscene/abusive language toward a teacher (offensive, indecent, disgusting, harsh, injurious or insulting language or gestures), 704 incidents of obscene/abusive language toward a student, 880 incidents of making a threat or intimidation (to unlawfully place another person in fear of bodily harm through verbal threats), 276 incidents of sexual harassment, and 305 incidents of weapons possession.

If a student chronically disrupts the learning environment for others, he or she should be removed from the traditional classroom — permanently. The rights of students who want to learn should supersede those of students who refuse to do so.

Unfortunately, the opposite is true.

Although some of the worst offenders are sent to a behavior-management room, the sheer volume of disruptive students, especially in the urban core, is unmanageable, and teachers, forced into the role of classroom cops, must keep these students in their classrooms.

Although many troubled kids may never excel in a traditional educational environment, many could learn a trade. However, because so few slots exist in vocational high schools, the worst-performing students don’t have a chance at getting accepted. Thus, we invest thousands of taxpayer dollars annually in these students, forcing them to sit in our traditional public-school classrooms, where they learn nothing, and we get absolutely no return on our investment.

Perhaps we should look at some European educational models where students are diverted to one of four tracks as early as the fifth grade, most involving some sort of vocational training. If we were to do this here, those who are on the college track could learn in an environment free from interruption, and other students could have the opportunity to learn a skill that lets them become productive members of society.

The following took place in the 2012-13 school year at a public school in the urban core of Rhode Island. This is a true story:

The class began and the teacher told the students to take their seats. Most ignored him. They eventually sat and the teacher began his instruction. Five minutes of the 50-minute period had elapsed.

A tall student lifted his desk up off the floor, balancing it on his knees, and began banging it noisily from side to side. Many students laughed, and became more engaged by his actions than by the lesson. The girl sitting next to him nodded her head in approval.

The teacher told the boy to put the desk down. He ignored him. The girl giggled. He asked again, this time more forcefully.

“What are you gonna do if I don’t?” the student said.

“Put it down now, or you will get detention,” responded the teacher.

His response: “I already got three detentions this week. What do it matter if I got one more?”

The teacher walked toward the young man. Placing his hand on the desk, he gently pushed it to the floor and said, “You were told to put the desk down.”

The student, now angry, raised his voice and said, “Oh, I’ll put it down,” and with that he flipped the desk upside down, where it crashed to the floor. Other students laughed and cheered. He was ejected from the classroom.

Twenty minutes of class time had elapsed. A girl sitting near the front of the room was taking notes and trying to pay attention. A male student sitting behind her banged on the back of her chair as another chanted and laughed, shaking his head in disapproval, saying: “There she goes again, doing her schoolwork.”

Sadly, the boy who was ejected was back in class the next day. The girl who desperately wanted to learn got less of the teacher’s time than the boy who was ejected.

Even sadder? This was a sixth-grade classroom.

Christopher Ratcliffe, a management consultant, teaches business classes at Bryant University and the Community College of Rhode Island. He is the author of “Not College Ready,” a study on the nonproficiency of Rhode Island high-school graduates.

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